On 12th September, the CATO Summit on Financial Regulation called Fintech Unbound 2018 was streamed online, wherein several panels discussed issues on the lines of regulatory growth in the fintech sector. Ryan Zagone, the Director of Regulatory Relations at Ripple spoke about cross-border payments, fintech in the cryptocurrency space, and traditional payment systems.

The moderator began by introducing the current state of the payment systems in the US and on global levels, stating that these systems are inconveniently slow. Here, Zagone narrated the advancements brought by Ripple to defeat today’s inefficient payment systems.

He described the traditional cross-border payment systems as being closely similar to a postal service wherein a mail is dropped and hoped to be delivered. Furthermore, he stated that it is untrackable and irreversible in case of a glitch. Zagone believes that his company, Ripple can enhance the payment experiences in the fintech industry.

To back his claim, he stated that Ripple is using the blockchain technology and digital assets as tools to underpin new payment solutions. Zagone also mentioned the usage of a Ripple product by SMEs to attain commercial growth and freedom. In his words:

“We have customers using the solution for corporate payments, allowing real-time SME payments. Well think about SMEs, they’re mostly domestic focused today, but as they grow internationally, they hit these barriers in the cross-border space and it becomes too operationally, too intensive from a treasury side to really engage in global growth. It becomes a barrier to commerce.”

Subsequently, he cited the examples of more clients that are using Ripple for corporate payments. He revealed that one client crossed over $1 billion transaction volume for SMEs in a span of few months.

Zagone also gave a sneak-peak into a Ripple product that is set to arrive by next year. He stated that the product will enable a platform meant to add real-time access into the markets without pre-funding. He further explained that the launch will reduce transfer costs from 40% to 70%, as observed in a trial session.

Earlier this week, Ripple released a report on how its RippleNet service has impacted the lives of Thai workers in Japan. For each cross-border transaction, the remittance fee for a Thai worker is equivalent to 12-hours of work. The fintech solved this by partnering with SBI remit [Japan] and Siam Commercial [Thailand] and made it easier for the workers to send money to their home country.

Priyamvada is a full-time journalist at AMBCrypto. A graduate in Journalism & Communication from Manipal University, she believes blockchain technology to be a revolutionary tool in advancing the future. Currently, she holds no value in cryptocurrencies.